This film is about a Jewish boy being sent to live with a catholic family during the Holocaust.Normally, a film about a boy suffering in the Holocaust should be a sure tear jerker that touches people right to the core. An example is the Oscar winning "Life Is Beautiful", which to me is still the best film of all time.However, "Edges of the Lord" is a rare example of a failed Holocaust film. It documents the mischiefs of a group of children that is only weakly related to the Holocaust, that they who could have been anyone in any place. The story is not engaging, and lacks emotional portrayal either, as it keeps going on and on about rather unusual acts between the children. Seriously, how could a teenage girl invite a young boy into a room for an hour and then want the other boys to stone her? Or a young boy running naked in the rain? The plot is weak to start with, and spirals out of control into unforgivable chaos that is beyond redemption.The deadliest weak point though, is the accent. It is understandable that the director wants to make the film "authentic", but if so, why not make the film in Polish or in German? It would have been even more authentic, and easy on the ears. The resultant fake Polish accent in "Edges of the Lord" is a strange chimera that is very unpleasant on the ears.The only strong point I can think of is the strong acting by Liam Hess. "Edges of the Lord" is still a big disappointment.

This is not made of real situations but it has happened. Because I'm sure that is was a few boys and girls who get away from home, just like Haley Joel. I think that this movie is important for other people as well. You know, when we, who lives in the 21th century, doesn't live anymore, people in 100 years can see the movie and think "Oh, that war WAS no good". But we who has grown up with the story a quite familiar with it, or aren't we?Haley Joel Osment is awesome. Think, that a 13 year-old boy, who don't know the past really, just go out there and act that good. Some say he's just a actor, but i say that he's a genius. There hasn't been any better actor/actress ever. There is just one single question: When do Haley Joel Osment win his first Acadmy Award for best male actor?

"Edges of the Lord" is a beautifully shot film. The interior of peasant homes and the Polish countryside glow."Edges" includes some unforgettable performances. Willem Dafoe is stunning as nobody's ideal -- and yet very loving -- priest. Haley Joel Osment reveals, yet again, that he has more heart and talent in his pinkie than many bigger stars have in their whole bodies.Liam Hess, as Tolo, an eight year old peasant child with a Messiah complex, is reason enough alone to see the movie. I've never seen anything like his performance. He is mesmerizing. Had this film received a theatrical release, Hess' performance would be legendary by now.HJO plays Romek, a Jewish boy who, during the Holocaust, is sent to live with a Polish peasant family. During his time there he has fights, and makes friends, with Polish peasant children. An older girl, teenage Maria, tries to introduce him to love.This coming of age tale occurs with the Holocaust in the background. Trains of Jews pass through the village; villagers rob escaping Jews. Three Polish peasant characters are shot to death for defying Nazi orders. A pall of menace hangs over every word and deed.Tolo, who looks younger than eight, takes it upon himself to sacrifice for the suffering humanity he sees around him. He asks to be crucified. He attempts to perform a miracle. Upon learning that Jesus was Jewish, Tolo claims to be Jewish -- to a Nazi. In the end, Tolo does perform a sacrifice, one the viewer did not expect.Viewers can't fully understand this movie without understanding the background of Polish Jewish relations. Both Polish Catholics and Jews suffered under the Nazis. Nazis, though, targeted Jews for complete elimination, and came dreadfully close to carrying out that evil end.In recent years, loud voices have claimed that Poles did not do enough to rescue Jews, or that Poles celebrated, or participated in, the Holocaust that occurred, largely, on Polish soil. Poles, less well organized, have tried to present a more complicated picture -- one in which any Pole who helped any Jew in any way risked death not just for himself, the helper, but for his entire family. Poles also point out that there are more Poles honored among the righteous at Yad Vashem than any others.Too, Poles point out, World War Two was just the latest catastrophe, for Poles, in a two century long history of catastrophes, including domination by hostile Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Poles suffered horribly under the Nazis. There were Poles in Auschwitz, on mass transport trains, and in gas chambers.Needless to say, this short review can't honor all the competing narratives that serve as backdrop to this movie.As a viewer, I can say that this film was not a complete success for me aesthetically. Watching films about genocide is hard. If I am going to invest time in such an endeavor, I want to feel that the investment was worthwhile -- that I learned something, or grew as a person, from the experience. Genocide films that have worked for me have included "The Pianist" and "Hotel Rwanda." Both films focused on a single strand narrative that followed one character I deeply cared about."Edges of the Lord" does not follow a single strand narrative focused on one charismatic character. Though I liked many, I never became intimately involved with any of the characters. The film's focus is too diffuse, switching from narrative strand to narrative strand.And then there are the political issues. I can understand the desire to make a film that communicates that World War Two was a tortuous, chaotic prison for all Poles. The Bad Poles here -- the ones who rob escaping Jews -- are bad Poles, period. They also betray their own Polish Catholic neighbors to the Nazis. One, the script makes clear, has performed unnatural acts with sheep. And he rapes a beloved female character.At one point, a priest confronts a Polish criminal with his crime. The criminal says, "Who are you going to report me to?" World-War-Two-era Poland was a land without justice. The good Poles did was erased, often, by their murder at the hands of Nazis. Bad Poles faced no court of justice; rather, they profited from others' misfortunes.That this film communicates that understanding is a good thing.There are political issues in a film in which Tolo, a Polish Catholic boy, a child of the "Christ of Nations," volunteers to be crucified, symbolically, and, ultimately, in a real way, as a gesture of solidarity with suffering Jews. This is an issue that deserves discussion. But, unfortunately, this film was all but buried. It received no theatrical release, and little press. That is a shame.I do have mixed feelings about this film as an aesthetic product and a political statement, but I also must recommend it for anyone who would like to see an unforgettable performance by a child actor, and for persons interested in seeing the Holocaust from an alternative point of view.

There are two stories going on at the same time in this movie, there is the main story of Osment hiding out from the Germans and the tragedy of war, but there is also the story of Jesus. Tolo decides to act out the life of Jesus because the priest told them to "become" figures from the bible, Tolo, the youngest child, chose Jesus and took the role VERY seriously. He wants to suffer to save those he loves from the horror of war. He is shocked to find out Jesus was a Jew and pretends that he is one as well. I loved this movie. I thought it was compelling and very realistic. It shows raw emotion and how people's behavior can change when their lives or the lives of their loved ones are threatened.